More from Scott Russell

Beginning of Story Content

Insiders from the distance running ranks agree that Wilson Kipsang, who knocked 15 seconds off the marathon world record on Sunday, has the potential to capture global attention.

It was one of those crazy, busy weekends in sport.

The Olympic Torch Relay began in Greece and hockey superstar Alex Ovechkin was the first Russian to carry it on the long trek to Sochi 2014. He had to hurry because his NHL campaign with the Washington Capitals was due to face off 48 hours later.

The Major League Baseball season drew to a close and the race to the World Series shifted into high gear as the "Gods of October" seemingly captured the American consciousness once again.

All the while, the grid iron spectacle that is the National Football League, like a freight train, gathered steam and dominated television screens on Sunday afternoon.

And yes, a 31-year-old Kenyan by the name of Wilson Kipsang knocked 15 seconds off the marathon world record. In Berlin he ran the "King" of all distance races in two hours, three minutes and 23 seconds.

It's amazing...but Kipsang's historic feat almost got lost in the shuffle.

"I saw Wilson Kipsang in Iten [Kenya], many times this winter and had the opportunity to talk to him about the Olympics and the marathon," said Canadian marathoner Reid Coolsaet from his training base in Guelph, Ont. "At the time he had the second-fastest marathon in the world as well as an Olympic medal and I still had to tell some runners who he was."

Such is the lingering obscurity of one of the most challenging of all athletic events that human beings undertake. The marathon, it would seem, still has miles to go in terms of securing a mass following.

That said, Kipsang's achievement points to the fact that a milestone marathon may be in the offing in the not-too-distant future. Just as Sir Roger Bannister chased the four-minute mile and finally caught it six decades ago at Iffley Road track in Oxford, UK in 1954, the sub-two-hour marathon is actually becoming conceivable.

"It's just as it was when Bannister and John Landy of Australia were inching closer and closer," Coolsaet said. "Once it goes there it will likely be a 'Bannister' effect and people will truly believe it's possible."

Insiders from the distance running ranks agree that Kipsang's new record might be a signal that the rush to that watershed, miraculous time for the 26.2-mile race, has the potential to capture global attention, as Bannister once did.

"Both are about the sublime challenge of pushing the human spirit and body as far as they can go and beyond what was once conventionally thought possible," reckoned Dave Scott-Thomas, a University of Guelph track coach who guided Coolsaet and Eric Gillis to the Olympic marathon in London last summer. "Both have a sweet symmetry in terms of a number to chase. Four minutes is conceptually pretty simple as is two hours."

Magic marathon

Still, conventional wisdom dictates that the magic marathon isn't about to happen overnight.

While it's true in the nearly half century since Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila won the 1964 Tokyo Olympic marathon in 2:12:12, nearly nine minutes have come off the global mark, the progression is slowing down. In the last decade the world record has been broken four times but Kenyan Paul Tergat's 2:04:55 is a mere one minute and 32 seconds slower than Kipsang's current standard.

That said breaking the world record by 15 seconds, as Kipsang did on Sunday in Berlin, is nothing to sneeze at.

"It doesn't sound like much, less than half a second per km, but at that level with many different athletes taking shots at it any improvement is noteworthy," Coolsaet figured. "It also makes it seem as though the two hour barrier is 14 years away."

Dave Scott-Thomas wavered when asked to commit to a belief in the sub-two-hour marathon and whether or not it's a sure thing.

"No if we assume standard means of progression and assumptions about body type, metabolism and training," he said. "But the answer is yes if we take into account outliers, [look at Usain Bolt and his body type], advanced technology and new training techniques."

The bottom line is that new frontiers on the marathon's gruelling field of play are being envisioned now more than ever.

The same is true for Canadian distance runners like Reid Coolsaet who are inching closer to Jerome Drayton's 38-year-old national record of 2:10:08 set in Fukuoka, Japan in 1975. It's the oldest athletics record of any kind in Canadian history.

"The Canadian record is definitely breakable," Coolsaet shrugged. He'll take another run at it in Fukuoka this coming December. "Just like the world record everything has to go right...training, health, headspace, pacers, weather...I feel as though at present, myself, Eric Gillis and Dylan Wykes have the ability but we would need everything to fall into place."

"It is beatable and I hope in the near-term. We have at least three Canadians who have the tools to do so," enthused Scott-Thomas. "They need the right build up and the right environmental conditions. It's taken this long because we got misdirected in training techniques for a couple of decades. By that I mean we just didn't run enough volume."

That's the key when it comes to making history in the marathon race. To demonstrate what is humanly possible and to achieve a watershed, fleeting moment in a timeless pursuit there are no short-cuts.

Instead millions of runners will log millions of miles and each will have to go the distance. But when the miracle marathon happens, it most certainly won't get lost in the shuffle.

Marathon World Record Progression...The Last 50 Years

2:12:12 Abebe Bikila Ethiopia Tokyo 1964

2:09:12 Ian Thompson Great Britain Christchurch 1974

2:08:05 Steve Jones Great Britain Chicago 1984

2:06:50 Belayneh Densamo Ethiopia Rotterdam 1988

2:04:55 Paul Tergat Kenya Berlin 2003

2:03:23 Wilson Kipsang Kenya Berlin 2013

Marathon Canadian Record

2:10:08 Jerome Drayton Canada Fukuoka 1975

End of Story Content

Story Social Media

Share Tools

End of Story Social Media

To encourage thoughtful and respectful conversations, first and last names will appear with each submission to CBC/Radio-Canada's online communities (except in children and youth-oriented communities). Pseudonyms will no longer be permitted.

By submitting a comment, you accept that CBC has the right to reproduce and publish that comment in whole or in part, in any manner CBC chooses. Please note that CBC does not endorse the opinions expressed in comments. Comments on this story are moderated according to our Submission Guidelines. Comments are welcome while open. We reserve the right to close comments at any time.

Note: The CBC does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comments, you acknowledge that CBC has the right to reproduce, broadcast and publicize those comments or any part thereof in any manner whatsoever. Please note that comments are moderated and published according to our submission guidelines.

About the Author

Scott brings vast experience, passion and knowledge to his role as host of CBC's Sports Weekend on CBC. A 20-year CBC Sports veteran, Russell has covered nine Olympic Games and co-hosted Olympic Morning for Beijing 2008: The Olympic Games. The Gemini-Award winning broadcaster and acclaimed author has also worked as a host and rinkside reporter on Hockey Night in Canada and has covered triathlon, gymnastics, rugby, cross-country skiing and biathlon at several Olympic Games, Pan Am Games and Commonwealth Games.

Usain Bolt delivered a rebuke to those who questioned whether he really suffered an injury in his farewell race at the World Athletics Championships by revealing details of his hamstring tear on Thursday. more »